At one point he explained the process he went through in creating a star: The idea of a star being born is bush-wah. Examining the possibility of the wide screen, Mayer said that it eliminates the intimacy allowed by the standard-sized screen. That was a good way to tell if it was someone we were expecting or someone who just wanted in. Mayer maintained that he was born in Minsk on July 4, 1885. His genius lay in building the most star-studded studio in town . I had been to his hometown. [45] He relied on his instinct and intuition, said actress Esther Williams. [not verified in body] He renovated and expanded several other theaters in the Boston area catering to audiences of higher social classes. Mayer lived in the north end until his late teens or early . Mayer was searching for someone to help him manage his small, but dynamic and fast-growing studio. [48] In addition, MGM maintained a police force of fifty officerslarger than that of Culver City itself. Her sister, Irene, married Gone With the Wind producer and studio exec David O. Selznick. The pilot, Charles Foster, recalled his visit: "Mary's driver took me through the gates, and I saw this little man come running down the steps of the Thalberg Building. Showing Editorial results for louis b mayer. "[84], Defying those pleadings, MGM produced Mrs. Miniver, a simple story about a family in rural England trying to get by during the early years of the war. Mayer renovated the Gem Theater, a rundown, 600 seat burlesque house in Haverhill, Massachusetts, which he reopened on November 28, 1907 as the Orpheum, his first movie theater. "These lovely girlsand you have the finest of themgreet you,". Personable guards greet the stars, but crude types end . But MGM received a serious blow when Thalberg died suddenly on September 14, 1936, at age 37. "Edgar and Louis B. virtually built that temple", said Herbert Brin. "[102] Foster said "It was like he was the father I never knew. One of the worst offenders was Louis B Mayer, a self-made man who co-founded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer - or MGM - studios and reinvented filmmaking in the process. Jack stayed on the premises, which at the time was located on a private, gated road, so often during his presidency that the place became known as the Western White House. Mickey nodded. Louis B. Mayer, who died in 1957 at the age of 73, was a prominent studio executive who co-founded MGM studios and created the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Everything was the best that you could have, he recalls. This beautiful 20-room home was built by MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer in 1936apparently in just six weeks! In taking this attitude he stressed the rapidity at which images must be transmitted in television and pointed out that satisfactory results cannot be obtained with this requirement. At the same time, Warner Brothers produced Confessions of a Nazi Spy. They were not found in her stomach. According to TIME, two flying monkeys fell to the floor after their wires broke . On his final day, as he walked down a red carpet laid out in front of the Thalberg Building, executives, actors and staff lined the path and applauded him for his contributions. My mother headed out for a walk one afternoon, on the beach and he followed her all the way down to the water line. [45] Some said Mayer had a lot in common with newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. [33] Mayer took charge of the business part of running the studio, such as setting budgets and approving new productions. His death came as a shock to Mayer and everyone at MGM and the other studios. Louis B Mayer is commonly known as The Monster Of MGM, and for good reason. [citation needed], Mayer wanted the studio to nurture child stars for MGM's family-oriented productions. [62] He sometimes arranged marriages, and coping with occupational hazards such as alcoholism, suicide, and eccentric sexual habits were as much a part of his job as negotiating contracts with stars and directors. Eve Johnson said that their marriage had been engineered by Louis B. Mayer at MGM. We lived there for three years. "Like Hearst and Henry Ford," said Brown, "he was an executive genius". Some, such as young starlet Elizabeth Taylor, disliked Mayer overseeing their lives; Taylor called him a "monster",[66] while Mickey Rooney, another young actor who co-starred with Taylor when she was 12, formed the opposite impression: "He was the daddy of everybody and vitally interested in everybody. The Voice of America radio network broadcast the minister's speech from the film, magazines reprinted it, and it was copied onto leaflets and dropped over German-occupied countries. "It was a crappy childhood", said Mayer's nephew Gerald. I really enjoy it! He left Cinerama in 1954 when the company was sold. "[64], Stories about his sobbing or rages have often been repeated in books, but few employees ever saw that part of him. For nine years from 1937, when he earned $1,300,000equivalent to $24,504,398 today,[42]Mayer was the highest-paid man in the United States.[43]. Mayer had two daughters from his first marriage to Margaret Shenberg (18831955), which ended in divorce in 1947. [21] He roamed the streets with a cart that said "Junk Dealer" and collected any scrap metal he came across. And Edies husband, Bill, ran 20th Century Fox and then Universal-International, where he gave Natalie Wood, then 7, her first credited role, in 1946. Had Marilyn publicly shared all this, JFK would have most likely been immediately impeached and even possibly jailed for treason, and Bobby would have been immediately fired and also possibly jailed for the same, and the Kennedy name and golden family reputation forever ruined, despised, and made the brunt of jokes. The first production was 1918's Virtuous Wives. '"[53], Mayer took pride in his ability to hire good people, and once hired, he left them alone to do their job without interference. The theatre simple and yet gorgeous. Super-intelligent people might have found him common or crass. The Eastman Museum maintains its collection of nitrate film at the Louis B. Mayer Conservation Center, a state-of-the-art facility consisting of twelve vaults containing more than 26 million feet of film and an inspection room with four workstations for the care and inspection of film material. Mayer endorsed President Herbert Hoover's failed reelection bid.[106]. After expanding and moving to Los Angeles, he teamed with film producer Irving Thalberg and they developed hundreds of high-quality story-based films, known for their wholesome and lush entertainment. He, though, like other top film executives and Hollywood stars in the 1920s and early 1930s, was often too quick to dismiss news of inventions and major innovations on the horizon that might profoundly change the movie industry or possibly challenge in the future the growing dominance of films in the realm of American entertainment. A star is made, created; carefully and cold-bloodedly built up from nothing, from nobody. She expressed her fear: "They won't have need for anybody around here. It was all he cared about", said Sidney.[91]. The home was completed in an astonishing six weeks time, by April 18, 1926, with builders literally working around the clock to finish. "[54] Mayer's paternalism could extend to productions; for example, he revised the Dr. Kildare stories in order to keep an ailing Lionel Barrymore, who required the use of a wheelchair due to arthritis, on the job.[54]. would ask only one question: 'Can you make it better?' As pressure built to find a new Thalberg-style manager to handle production, Dore Schary was brought in from RKO, and began work on July 14, 1948, as vice president in charge of production, working under Mayer's direction. With her house searched top to bottom for her diary, incriminating notes, letters, pictures, jewelry, her body posed multiple times, including one where shes holding her phone, timelines were reworked, along with so called witnesses stories, who were barely if at all questioned. The nitrate film collection was originally stored in the Henry A. He was like Hearst in the newspaper business. Quote Investigator: This questionable story was printed in the 1960 biographical work "Hollywood Rajah: The Life and Times of Louis B. Mayer". Some long-time studio executives saw this change as a sign of the eventual downfall of MGM. She had three failed marriages, two with abusive husbands, and was constantly getting used, abused, and literally passed around like an addicted drugged out hooker, by Sinatra, JFK, Sam Giacanna, and possibly others. Musicals were high on his list of preferred genres. What Mayer couldn't do on his own, he hired the best talent he could find to do for him. Mayer let go of his lapels. [59], Occasionally, when producers, directors, writers or actors were deadlocked over how to handle a problem in a film, he would mediate. If someone looked good to me, I'd have him tested. A partnership was set up with B. P. Schulberg to make the Mayer-Schulberg Studio, In late 1922, Mayer was introduced to Irving Thalberg, then working for Universal Pictures. With regard to any technical issues with productions, Mayer left the details and solutions to MGM's engineers. Few Jewish immigrants have wielded the cultural power of Louis B. Mayer . Stalk It: Louis B. Mayers former home, aka the birthplace of the Academy Awards, is located at 625 Palisades Beach Road (or Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica. I will read Donald Spotos book,. "In our family, all the basic decisions were made by him", remembers his nephew, Gerald Mayer. [35], Mayer dedicated MGM's front office building and christened it the Thalberg Building. Mayer was the constant at MGM who set the tone. He was the devil's advocate. The jist of it is that Marilyn was receiving medication from two doctors at the same time, and they unfortunately didnt manage to coordinate it, which of course proved fatal for Marilyn. For the first dozen years of its existence, Mayer's influence over the company would be at least matched . CriticalPast is an archive of historic footage. [84] Kennedy felt that "British defeat was imminent and there was no point in America holding out alone: 'With England licked, the party's over,' said Kennedy. "[111] Because of the stars, the stories, the glamour, the music, and the way they were presented, audiences the world over would often applaud the moment they saw the MGM lion. Such a legendary life, however, has many secrets. You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. As Vice President in charge of production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) from its inception until 1951, he was the mightiest of Hollywood moguls. In public, behave. Mayer assisted the U.S. government by producing a number of short films related to the war, and helped produce pro-American films such as Joe Smith, American, in 1942.[83]. The 24-year-old Thalberg was made part-owner and accorded the same position as vice president in charge of production. [85] Eddie Mannix agreed that "someone should salute England. . I am going to make pictures you can take your mother and your children to see. With MGM's film output as high as one film each week, he never panicked over a bad picture. People would show up on the PCH side too. They shared a guiding philosophy, to make the best motion pictures they could at any cost, even if it meant reshooting the entire picture. In fact, the last known photograph of John and Paul was taken on the premises. In his wonderfully readable biography of Mayer, "Lion of Hollywood," Scott Eyman paints a vivid portrait of Mayer and the studio he ran with blood, bile and singular common sense. During the summer of 1929, Fox was severely injured in an auto accident. Mayer tried to express an idealized vision of men, women, and families in the real world they lived in. We hired geniuses at make-up, hair dressing, surgeons to slice away a bulge here and there, rubbers to rub away the blubber, clothes designers, lighting experts, coaches for everythingfencing, dancing, walking, talking, sitting and spitting. Then in 1904 the 20-year-old Mayer left Saint John for Boston, where he continued for a time in the scrap metal business, got married and took a variety of odd jobs to support his new family when his junk business lagged. Mayer understood that the Germans could ban or boycott Hollywood films throughout much of Europe, with serious economic implications, since 30 to 40 percent of Hollywood's income came from European audiences. When I send my pictures abroad, I want them to show America in the right lightand not that we are a nation chiefly of drunks, gangsters and prostitutes. It was Mayer's personal favorite and the favorite of its director, Clarence Brown. They relied on each other, and neither operated unilaterally. The historic home was last sold in October 1978 for $862,000. Robert Wagner grew up in Bel Air playing with the Goetzes two daughters and attended Edies dinners for 30 years. [36] He had the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences establish the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, given to producers to recognize their exceptional careers, now considered one of the most prestigious awards in the Hollywood film industry. He felt that the general public, especially Americans, like to see stars, spectacle, and optimism on screen, and if possible, with a little sentiment attached. The home most recently sold in 2017 to Nicolas Berggruen for $42 million. According to the blurb, in January 1927, legendary producer Louis B. Mayer was enjoying some idle conversation with friends Conrad Nagel and Fred Niblo at his beachfront home when the idea to form an elite club of fellow movie-industry moguls struck him. She was then moved back to her house and posed in bed. I have a comment that you may find interesting, concerning Marilyns death, which was neither a suicide nor murder. L.B. His parents were Jacob Meir and Sarah Meltzer (both Jewish) and he had two sisters Yetta, born in c. 1878 and Ida, born in c. 1883. Legend has it that Mayer was in this house in January 1927 when he hit upon the idea of forming a movie industry academy. Mayer made the bid on a film that one of his scouts had seen, but he had not, although he was well aware of the plot surrounding the Ku Klux Klan; his decision netted him over $100,000. "They needed their big star to married to quell rumors about his sexual preferences, and unfortunately, I was it the only woman he would marry." Van worked steadily in films and TV (playing more than 125 roles during his 52 year career). Unlike Charlie Chaplin, who produced The Great Dictator, the other, much larger Hollywood studios lacked the freedom to make such independent films. Cloud Road - Louis B Mayer Estate Few Los Angeles residences were home to more Hollywood celebrities, one after another, than a large mansion that once stood on this one acre property. Sousa's patriotic-style music built up his pride in America, and he "would be stoked with extra exuberance for days afterward", states Eyman. After one such episode, Mickey Rooney replied, "I won't do it. Mayer quickly announced that the new theater . By demanding retakes, Mayer delayed the film's release until after Hoover's exit from the White House. From 1924 until 1951, Mayer ruled over a vast film empire, producing a string of classic hits and discovering countless stars. Among his litany of unpunished social crimes, a highly truncated list can give you a glance at the kind of man he was. When you see some of the pictures taken of Marilyn when shed left hospitals after miscarriages, or the mental hospital she was in for a few days, supposedly to kick her sleeping pill addiction only a few weeks before her death, we get a glimpse of the frightened, scared Marilyn, who looks so alone in the world, and its absolutely heartbreaking to see them. All I ever looked for was a face. 35 PIEDMONT, BOSTON ANITA STEWART PRODUCTIONS SCU Presents' largest facility is the Louis B. Mayer Theatre. Mayer first moved with his family to Long Island, where they lived from 1887 to 1892 and where his two brothers were bornRubin, in April 1888[19] and Jeremiah, in April 1891. [87] Mayer implored her "to have the same faith in me" that he had in her. (The marriage lasted 13 months.). [70], After the studio fired her, she attempted suicide. The legendary actress had been working away at one for Random House, as discovered by biographer Gerald Clarke two decades ago, reports the Washington Post. But before Foster arrived, Mayer had invited every Canadian in Hollywood to meet the flier, including Fay Wray, Walter Pidgeon, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson, Rod Cameron, Deanna Durbin, Walter Huston, Ann Rutherford, and even his main competitor, Jack Warner. ISBN 0-394-40192-1. The 23-year-old Boston scrap metal dealer was depressed. You'll only learn from them. His family immigrated to Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada when he was very young and Mayer attended school there. That goal began with their early silent films, when stars such as Greta Garbo, Mayer's discovery, acted in lush settings with spectacular camera work.[34]. Located at 300 Delfern Drive on Billionaire's Row, the. The small city of Haverhill, population 45,000, proved an excellent place to open a movie theater. 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